New GOP Party Chair Jennifer Carnahan hasn’t been on the job more than two days but she sent a clear message Monday night after a racist Facebook post appeared on the page for Minnesota Seventh District Republicans. Aimed at U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the post was crude and called Ellison an “anti-Semite, anti-white, racist and fascist American.”

Carnahan issued a fast rebuke of the post and asked for the resignation of the individual behind it, though she did not name him or her publicly. DFL Chair Ken Martin criticized the GOP for the post.

Carnahan’s statement: “The recent 7th Congressional District Republican Facebook post is repugnant hate speech and in no way reflects the values of the Minnesota Republican Party, or the 7th Congressional District Republicans. I have asked for the immediate resignation of the individual responsible for this action. As Chair, I will not tolerate such activity from anyone associated with our party.”

The speed was unusual, but Carnahan’s swift response earned the praise of some supporters on Twitter, including state Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia, who wrote: “CD7 shows stupidity in great quantity. New MNGOP Chair does good job in rapidly condemning post and seeking resignation of idiots.” . . .

Bob EnosFrankly, calling Ellison anti-Semitic, anti-white, bigoted, and fascist may be a lot of things, but I don't see how any of that is racist. He's an elected politician, he makes a lot of bad calls, and he doesn't get a free pass. Even the "goat humper" comment isn't racist, if you think about it. It might be, were Ellison from a Middle Eastern country, or from Afghanistan, but he's not!

Enos reserved some of his scorn for Waconia state representative Jim Nash, a conservative Republican known for his strong policy positions on the Second Amendment.

Bob EnosAlso, Rep. Jim Nash would do well from painting Republican in CD-7 with the same broad brush. He indeed sounds like an idiot - we have enough trouble with the Democrats slurring us, they don't need HIS help!

(Minneapolis, MN) -- The Minneapolis Park Board last night voted to change the name of Lake Calhoun. They have opted to to rename the waterway Bde Maka Ska (Buh-day mah-kah- Skuh) which translates from Dakota to mean “white bank lake.” Advocates for the name change lobbied against the lake being named after former vice president John Calhoun because they believe he was a supporter of slavery. The Park Board will now send a request to the Hennepin County Board. The panel in turn must hold a public hearing, vote to approve the change and then make a proposal to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Bob Enos It's sort of a toilet in reverse. The French use them in place of toilet paper, as it shoots water upward, over a porcelain receptacle that looks like a toilet.

Another Facebook friend later replied:

Lynn Woitalla So, they want to change the name of a well-known lake and call it a toilet for white people? And that's not discriminatory or insulting to anyone? So, only white's can use it??

Well, no, Lynn, "they" don't. It's solely Mr. Enos' notion that making a joke insulting Dakota people and their language is suitable for public discourse. One could argue rationally against reverting to the older name for the lake without making offensive pun, but Enos apparentlty can't stop at that. A good short review of the history and recovery of the language--and a moving short film--can be found at Dakota Iapi Teunhindapi: We Cherish the Dakota Language.

Were Enos simply a private citizen, little of this would be a problem for Jennifer Carnahan and the Republican Party of Minnesota. The uncivil and racist speech would simply be yet another toxic old guy exercising his civil liberties to open his mouth and demonstrate just what an idiot (to borrow Jim Nash's term) like those individual Democrats leaving racist nastygrams for Carnahan that Mike McIntee reported in Racist Post Sparks Threats, Racial Slurs Aimed At MN GOP Chair.

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The Facebook page from Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District Republican Party on Monday night featured a post with racist and derogatory language superimposed on a photo of U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D.-Minn.

It was swiftly rebuked by DFL and GOP leaders.

Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Jennifer Carnahan issued a statement saying she had asked for the “immediate resignation” of the person responsible for the post.

In a phone interview a short time later, she would not identify the person who posted the anti-Ellison photo and words on Facebook but said that person “has been identified ... and they no longer represent our party. They resigned immediately.”

The post was up for several hours on Monday night. It has been taken down, but screen shots of it were posted on Twitter and other social media sites. . . .

It featured an image of Ellison, dressed in camouflage hunting gear and posing with a wild turkey he apparently had shot. The post writer also derided U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., saying “Peterson has been sliding [sic] up to head Muslim [expletive] Keith Ellison. Heck, they’re now hunting buddies. Does that mean Muslim refugees coming to western Minnesota?”

Never underestimate the 7th Congressional District Republicans. On Monday, a post on the official Facebook page of that unit of the Republican Party of Minnesota tried going after DFL U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, who represents the area, by connecting him to DFL U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, who represents Minneapolis.

I am opposed to waterboarding muslim terrorists, but probably not why you think. I am opposed to waterboarding muslim terrorists because it is a waste of resources. They are muslims, they are terrorist, we know where they are from, we know where their buddies are, we know where thier mosque's are, we know millions of these parasites travel to Mecca every year and when...FRAG 'EM! Simplicity. I love when it all comes together!

The post was picked up by Jennifer Brooks at the Star Tribune, who gave the hat tip to Bluestem, and Whitley was soon history.

More CD7 GOP Facebook page awfulness

Whitley's posts are being cited as earlier evidence of a lack of boundary limits by CD7 Republicans, but the district's social media rudeness on its twitter and Facebook accounts caught heck before Carnahan needed to spank the admin, with an earlier anonymous offender also removed. In November 2015, Talking Point Memo's Sara Jerde summed it up in Minnesota GOPers Get Heat For Posting About Democrats’ ‘Negro Problem’:

The chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party was forced to apologize Tuesday after a local GOP branch posted about state Democrats’ “#Negroproblem” on social media.

The 7th Congressional District GOP borrowed the term from a blog post they shared on Facebook and Twitter on Sunday, according to the alternative weekly Minneapolis City Pages. The blog post, written on the website Our Black News, was about the state’s Democrat-Farmer-Labor party, which the author wrote had called for a “special session” to address the “Negro problem in Minnesota.”

“MN DFL now propose a ‘special session’ to deal with their self-created ‘#Negroproblem,” the posts read, according to City Pages.

The DFL party quickly put the The 7th Congressional District GOP on blast.

“You don’t have to look far to find ignorant hate speech masquerading as acceptable party messaging,” DFL state Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement, according to the report. “However, this is not the first time the Minnesota Republican Party and their affiliates have posted racially insensitive material.” . . .

In response to the criticism, state Republican Party Chairman Ken Downey tweeted that the person in charge of the local party’s social media accounts was “relieved of duties” . . .

. . .Founded in 2007, Chain Bridge served John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008 and Mitt Romney’s in 2012. House Speaker John Boehner keeps ­fundraising accounts there; so does the Republican National Committee. It’s also served political action committees for Altria Group, the National Association of Convenience Stores, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. “The largest issue that we would always have with people is that they’d be like, ‘Why would we use this Podunk little bank in McLean, Virginia?’ ” says Bradley Crate, Romney’s 2012 chief financial officer. He routinely refers clients of his consulting firm Red Curve Solutions to the bank, including both Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Trump. Chain Bridge offers services tailored to the idiosyncrasies of campaigns, which deposit and then spend enormous sums quickly, with no credit history to lean on. “I know I can call my contacts at Chain Bridge Bank and have an account open in like 15 minutes,” Crate says. “If you go to a much larger bank, you have a ­bureaucracy you have to deal with.” . . .

Of course, one might not have to deal with a larger bank's bureaucracy had Miller chosen a financial institution in CD7 run by conservatives. We suspect such creatures exist.

Top image: Screenshot of the Facebook post from the 7th District Republicans (Micheal Brodkorb screenshot) via the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

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Dec 07, 2016

Did Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt break the spirit of Minnesota Statute 10A.071 and violate Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board Advisory Opinion 287 (Gift to official of special seating rights at athletic event) when he purchased a ticket to sit in Minneapolis Star Tribune and Minnesota Timberwolves owner (and Minnesota United FC investor) Glen Taylor's luxury suite during a Vikings game earlier this month?

A few days back, the Star Tribune's stadium beat reporter Rochelle Olson shared an interesting series of tweets:

The legislation providing the stadium with a key property-tax exemption has been held up by political wrangling between the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton, who are at an impasse over a tax bill. The governor could yet call a special legislative session this season, but that’s a major maybe.

The point is, the law (as understood by the board) may suggest that it is irrelevantwhether he paid for the ticket or not, given that Taylor has business before the state.

Rather, both episodes illustrate the moral hazards of crony capitalism and state government at work for privately-held sports stadiums. If we're going to put up with this sort of thing, Bluestem hopes that members of both major parties and their moneyed interest pals join together to rebuild schools, close the graduation gap, create a 21th century distributed electrical grid for clean energy, plant pollinator habitat or other such worthy projects if they really can't restrain themselves from such behavior.

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YUP - the Black Caucus is still Left. And still there dragging other Black Americans down with them.

We've captured this special moment in Minnesota political social media in the screengrab at the top of this post.

For some reason, Bluestem doesn't think Hughes is angry about the homophone error, but the fact that the Congressional Black Caucus exists. As for "dragging other Black Americans down with them," we think that perhaps Hughes and the page administrator might not be the best folks to caption and explain this photo.

The photo is very similar to that taken by Associated Press photographer J. Scott Applewhite at a press conference in February. ABC News features a slightly cropped version of it on its website with this cutline:

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader of the civil rights movement, joins the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee in endorsing Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as prominent African-American Democrats rush to her aid ahead of the Feb. 27 Democratic primary in South Carolina, Feb. 11, 2016, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The trilogy, anchored by the 1965 march on Selma, is authored by Lewis, Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell. The Eisner-winning project was started because Aydin, the digital director in Rep. Lewis’s office, was a comic-book fan — a passion deeply appreciated by his boss. Sixty years earlier, a teenage John Lewis was inspired to follow a life of nonviolent protest after reading a comic about the Rev. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and “the Montgomery story.” . . .

Civil-rights campaigner and congressman John Lewis was in tears as he accepted America’s National Book award for young people’s literature in Manhattan on Wednesday night, speaking of how as a child he had been turned away from the public library for being black.

Lewis won the prestigious US honour for the third volume of his graphic memoir March, which tells of his vital part in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. “This is unreal. This is unbelievable,” said Lewis as he took to the stage with his visibly moved co-authors Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell.

Recounting how he grew up “very, very poor” in rural Alabama, Lewis said there were “very few books in our home”, recalling a trip in 1956 to try and borrow some books from the library.

“I had a wonderful teacher in elementary school who told me: ‘Read, my child, read’, and I tried to read everything. I love books,” said Lewis. “When I was 16 years old, some of my brothers and sisters and cousins [were] going down to the public library trying to get public library cards, and we were told the library was for whites only, not for coloureds. To come here and receive this award this honour is too much. Thank you.”

Read Lewis's congressional biography here. Perhaps Hughes and the page admin might trying checking some books about the civil rights movement out of their local libraries if they fancy that Lewis is "dragging other Black Americans down."

However, the admin and Hughes' nincompoopery isn't just reserved for animus toward iconic civil rights giants like Lewis or for the ability of black members of Congress to form a caucus.

A Love Supreme?

There's their take on performance artist Vermin Supreme's presidential campaigns.

But another photo that the Facebook admin shares--and Hughes likes--suggests that perhaps these fellows aren't the brightest porch lights on the block.

We arrived at this conclusion upon viewing the inclusion of a screenshot of Vermin Supreme in an album of six photos that allegedly document Democratic (and the Left! And Hampshire College!* Oh Noes!) perfidy. The caption on this gem:

Yes, this is a Presidential Candidate speaking at Hampshire College. Looks very serious, doesn't he? But, he is a Democrat.

If you're not hip to Vermin Supreme, here are a few highlights from the "Performance artist, anarchist, presidential candidate, and activist's" Wikipedia entry:

The 2016 Election is over. Or is it? If you thought You Won, well you won parts of the Election, but there is still lots of work to do and hard challenges are going to come our way. Collin Peterson squeaked out a tight win this time, but he is still setting in Moorhead’s personal Congressional Seat, ignoring all his other constituents as usual. Mark Dayton, the “Advil Governor” is still Governor of Minnesota, as least if he can still escape meetings by walking his puppies. Yes, Republicans took control of their State Senate and Legislature. But we are still hampered in the Congress buy the likes of the white baiting Muslim Ellison and the left’s cutie-pie Klobuchar, who deflects all genuineness whenever she can and is overly fond of running and ducking away from her state constituents. And then there is the Left-Drum-Beating-Obama-Rubber-Stamp-Stump-Kissing Al Franken, you know, the California Senator they spine-chillingly gave to Minnesota using Chevy Chase’s Poker Winnings.

The Crazies are still out there, burning the Flag, disrespecting the National Anthem, calling the Flag a symbol of their imagined “terror”, allowing George Soros to float funding through left wing groups for protests and riots. Many of our Colleges are now creating “safe zones” for students who can’t handle any outcomes they don’t agree with. Hampshire College is just the tip of the ice berg. And many other colleges are teaching outright leftist socialism as the favorite choice of government over all others.

Yes, many professors are teaching their students to hate America, to hate work, to hate Capitalism, to hate its Flag, to hate its Founders and our country’s sacred documents, and in addition to all that, to even hate its mainstream people. That is, you, friend.

They have been and are still being taught to hate the-get-a-job-hard-work-lets-pay-the-bills-and-put-good-food-the-table-for-your-family-wage-earners-who-want-to-get-ahead-in-life. These professors praise the virtues of pure Socialism, Marxism, Stalinism, Castro, and Chavez, before Washington, Franklin, or any of the Founding Fathers. This crazy leftism has even turned on Jefferson. But, they have not gone away. They are disorganized right now, but – they are getting valuable camera time. They are still here and will soon regroup. And they are going to bitch and whine and they are going to hatch the wildest political and policy schemes, - we have not heard the end of this yet. They are already working to train and hoodwink our Youth so they can have their United Nations Utopia.

So, Get Ready! All hands will be needed on Deck. Your help will be needed. Your Support will be needed. Your vigilance will be needed. Your activism will be needed. We have come a long way to taking some of our county back, but we are not quite there yet. There is a lot out there that is just plain scary.

We couldn't agree more with the last sentence after reading that post. Okay then. It's no wonder people in the Seventh think Collin Peterson is a Democrat.

Images: Screengrabs from the MN07 Republican Facebook page. Yes, we live among people who share such notions on public Facebook pages.

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Stories about how fake news pervades the internet and how it even helped Donald Trump win the presidency have been wide spread in the news media over the past couple weeks.

First, we don’t think the Republican candidate won because of fake news. He won because a majority of those who voted in states that count in the electoral college did so because of his conservative social stands, because he was a Republican, because many undecided voters detested Democrat Hillary Clinton, because many Democrats wished they had another choice, and because people wanted change in Washington.

But news that is made up, twisted far from the truth, and intended to deceive is a significant problem on the internet and to an informed citizenry. Too often people reading it take what they see and read on the internet as truth, repeat it to friends, and to like-minded people through Facebook sharing, through Tweets, and through other social media. . . .

Another Times story tracks a post by a Texas man who had fewer than 50 Twitter followers, but whose simple Tweet of a photo of a line of large busses lined up along a street in Austin brought him instant celebrity. Because the busses were lined up relatively close to where a Trump celebration rally was taking place, and because he thought the timing of the busses appearing was relatively close to the time of the rally, he surmised that they must have brought protestors. He never saw anyone get on or off the busses.

But it wasn’t long before his Tweet was shared 16,000 times on Twitter and 350,000 times on Facebook. Even Trump saw it and Tweeted saying, “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!”

The busses had, in fact, brought a group of people attending a business convention to the venue where they would be meeting. . . .

Bluestem found a very similar example of a Facebook account sharing fake news in the congressional district that's home to both the Monitor and our poor country blog. Our old friends at the Minnesota 7th Congressional District shared the post capture in the screenshot above:

We suppose these are the same protesters we are seeing Busing from City to City. Paid Agitators Fox News says George Soros is flipping the bill for.

The Milo Yiannopoulos post purported to depict buses that brought protestors to Chicago.

Not so fast, Western Minnesota Republican activist Allen Anderson chimed in a few hours later:

Allen E Andersonwrong these buses were used to bus Cubs fan in for the world series parade according to a post I saw elsewhere. somebody actually took the time to call badger lines to find out why they were there instead of just assuming what they were there for.

The page administrator thought that was nice to know, but didn't remove the post--or edit the headnote.

Yiannopoulos is a senior editor at Breitbart, a Right-wing online magazine and the most-read conservative news website in the States — and whose chair, Steve Bannon, has just been appointed President-elect Donald Trump’s chief strategist.

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The League of Women Voters Minnesota has issued the following response to Holmstadt's rant:

A recent article in the SWC Bulletin regarding Leilani Holmstadt’s opinions about the League of Women Voters (as found on her campaign’s official Facebook post) calls into questions the 97-year history of the League of Women Voters Minnesota and our work on behalf of all Minnesota residents. The League grew out of the suffragette movement and its successful effort to secure passage of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Since that time, the League’s members have focused their volunteer time on voting rights and voter education.

Are readers aware that League members volunteer at every citizenship ceremony registering thousands of new voters and welcoming them as part of our democratic process? If you’ve never attended a naturalization ceremony, I urge you to do so to witness the joy and enthusiasm our newest voters share on that day.

From our earliest days League has been actively engaged in protecting the Constitutional right to vote for all citizens. We do this through education and advocacy. Our voter education efforts are best seen during election years when Leagues all across Minnesota host hundreds of candidate forums. These forums are often the only opportunity voters have to compare candidates’ views side-by-side. The questions are submitted by voters and reflect the concerns of the community. Our other educational work is done on the issues Minnesota faces. Were you in the audience for a community forum on sex trafficking? How about the one on racial equity? Preventing gun violence? Cultural diversity? Community policing in the wake of the shooting of Philando Castile? Had you attended any one of these or any other League forum, you would have learned that League brings together diverse points of view and conducts a civil discussion where all voices are heard.

Ms. Holmstadt also called into question the League’s position on various issues. Our Program for Action can be found on our website at lwvmn.org. In it, readers will learn that League’s positions on issues are arrived at only after our members research and study issues, hold thoughtful discussions, and arrive at a consensus. Many of our positions predate current topics by decades. In it, our positions on topics ranging from clean water to education to government transparency. But, to clear up just a couple of Ms. Holmstadt’s misstatements, please allow me the courtesy of providing facts (and the dates these positions were adopted):

Gun Violence — “Protect the health and safety of citizens through limiting the accessibility and regulating the ownership of handguns and semi-automatic assault weapons, and support the allocation of resources to better regulate and monitor gun dealers. (1990, 1994, 1998)

Immigration — “Reform should promote reunification of immediate families; meet the economic, business and employment needs of the United States and be responsive to those facing political persecution or humanitarian crises. Provisions should also be made for qualified persons to enter the U.S. on student visas. All persons should receive fair treatment under the law. (2008)

Reproductive Choice — “Protect the constitutional right of privacy of the individual to make reproductive choices. (1983)

Finally, the League of Women Voters Minnesota is a 501(c)3 nonprofit nonpartisan organization. The League does not endorse candidates for office or political parties. Membership is open to all regardless of gender, citizenship or political point of view. League members do “prowl the halls” of the Capitol, as Ms. Holmstadt wrote. Did she mean to imply that citizens should not be participating in our government or advocating for things like the rights of children, protecting the environment?

Had Ms. Holmstadt, attended the candidate forum held earlier in the week for the SD54 race, she would have participated in a thoughtful discussion of topics voters in her district care most about. Her failure to appear was noted and will be seen by all those who view the video on your community access television station. Voters across Minnesota are turning out for candidate forums in unprecedented numbers because they want access to candidates and to know that the candidates will hear their concerns and represent their interests. Her decision not to participate short-changed the voters of SD54.

I would welcome the opportunity to meet with Ms. Holmstadt and to provide her with additional background about the League’s work. Perhaps together we could attend an upcoming naturalization ceremony and register voters? Together we could hear first-hand about how much voting and our democracy means to our newest voters. I hope she will take me up on this invitation

. . . League organizers had a chair and sign for Holmstadt next to her opponent, Democrat Dan Schoen, but removed the sign when the forum started. The moderator announced Holmstadt was invited but was not participating. The League’s policy is to allow a candidate to participate even if the opponent does not.

“It’s unfortunate my opponent isn’t here tonight to visit with us as well,” said Schoen, DFL-St. Paul Park, who currently represents House District 54A. The other Republican candidates, House District 54A’s Keith Franke and House District 54B’s Tony Jurgens, participated. . . .

Bluestem has to wonder if voters in the district are impressed by her hard-shell conservative views and refusal to engage with the impure.

Photo: State Representative Dan Schoen, DFL-Cottage Grove, answering voters' questions, without the pleasure of his opponent's company. Photo by Scott Wente, via the South Washington County Bulletin.

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Oct 18, 2016

In Tuesday's Morning Take, Blois Olson called attention to Republican Leilani Holmstadt's Facebook rant about the Minnesota League of Women Voters:

LWV: via Facebook from Leilani Holmstadt, GOP candidate for SD54, VERBATIM: “Voters in Minnesota Senate District 54 need to know about the partisan nature of the League of Women Voters (LWV), how phony their stated focus on good governance is, and how little they represent the interests of women...Here is the truth which is easily verified by visiting the LWV website. The LWV is a lobbying organization. LWV leaders prowl the halls of the Minnesota State Capitol promoting an agenda fully aligned with the DFL Party’s...The LWV fashions a public image of being a neutral party in elections as a distraction and reputation enhancer for its advocacy activities...Those operations advance abortion, gun control, and illegal immigration, among a host of other far left objectives. The League certainly doesn’t represent fetuses who would grow up to be women; it doesn’t represent women who want to protect themselves with legal firearms; and it certainly doesn’t represent women who lose their jobs to persons in the country illegally...I urge other responsible candidates for elected office to join me in refusing to participate in the LWV candidate forums and to, instead, call out the LWV for the left-wing lobbying organization it is.” LINK: http://bit.ly/2dkka7k

We've posted a screengrab of the comments on the post at the top of this post. Here's the thread as it stands now:

One would think that Holmstadt might take Strawser seriously. By day the head of a " strategic advisory firm specializing in global risk, business continuity, crisis management, crisis communications, and public affairs," by night, he's a Second Amendment activist, City Pages recently reported:

As an individual, however, Strawser serves as chairman of the board for a group of gun rights organizations, including the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus; he co-hosts a podcast that focuses on gun legislation; and has been quoted in news media like the Star Tribune, City Pages, and MPR advocating for pro-gun policy.

But perhaps enabling social media fans to call lesbians names matters more to the Republican nominee than common sense from a respected conservative activist..

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Of course, it asserts the truthiness of the impulse to post a bogus representation. Since their point was to illustrate that stabbings at a mall took place, they should be forgiven for posting the double-duty hoax using a decade-old photo of an inmate stabbed in a brawl in an incarceration facility. Because they fear Muslims, their hearts are pure. You betcha. [end update]

A gruesome photograph from a decade ago does not show injuries sustained by a victim of the September 2016 St. Cloud mall stabbing.

Claim: Photographs show injuries sustained by a victim of the September 2016 St. Cloud stabbing

Rated: False.

Origin: On 17 September, nine people were injured (none of them fatally) in a rampage by a knife-wielding man at the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud. Minnesota, who was himself shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Afterwards, some of the photographs displayed above were circulated on social media as pictures of one of the St. Cloud victims.

However, these images are much older than that incident. The photographs of a man with inch-deep slash wounds across his chest and back first reached our inbox March 2006, accompanied by text stating they depicted a United States Air Force (USAF) airman injured in a barroom incident near Kunsan Air Base in South Korea, home of the 8th Fighter Wing, also known as the Wolf Pack:

Kunsan Staff Sergeant Michael Jones, was assaulted in an A-Town bar by unknown assailants. 8th SFS and members of the OSI Detachment 641 B, are investigating. If anyone wishes to donate to the family of SSgt Jones you can call the 8th MXS First Sergeant at 782-4041 or (281) 330-8004.

"A-Town" is a commercial district about three miles from Kunsan Air Base frequented by Americans; "8th SFS" and "8th MXS" designate the 8th Security Forces Squadron (an Air Force police unit) and the 8th Maintenance Squadron, both at Kunsan; and "OSI" refers to a USAF Office of Special Investigations detachment at the air base.

According to the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes, Air Force officials quickly determined that there had been no such attack involving any USAF personnel around Kunsan, nor was anyone with the name included in the e-mail (Staff Sergeant Michael Jones) currently stationed at Kunsan Air Base:

"The name of the person on that hoax e-mail is not anyone that is stationed at Kunsan," [Capt. Richard] Komurek said. "I don't know in the history of Kunsan if that person was ever stationed here, but when that e-mail came out, that person was not stationed here."

Wing officials, including OSI personnel, checked into the report and within a day or so concluded it was fake, Komurek said.

"We had no such attack and we confirmed that the e-mail was a hoax. We notified the chain of command and the Wolf Pack members about the e-mail right away," he said.

The e-mail gave a DSN number and a commercial number with a Houston area code for those wishing "to donate to the family of SSgt Jones." Repeated calls to the DSN number went unanswered and calls to the Texas number produced a recording stating that the number is not in service.

Evidently Air Force investigators didn't get the joke: the name and phone number used in the text were taken from Houston rapper Mike Jones' 2005 CD release on the Asylum label, Who Is Mike Jones?, on which he exhorts listeners to "Hit me up: 281-330-8004, baby."

According to Air Force officials, the photographs are genuine, but they originated in the U.S. and were pictures used by law enforcement authorities for training purposes (that documented the aftermath of a fight between inmates).

Air Force investigators aren't the only ones not to get this extended joke--the frightened people in Aberdeen didn't stop to verify the authenticity of the photos, either. Let's hope they gain at least a tiny bit of enlightenment from Branstner and Enos tomorrow night.

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Sep 20, 2016

How much training should police and peace officers receive in the use of their firearms? State Representative and Minnesota House Public Safety Chair Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, seems to have grown conflicted about this topic in 2016.

House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Committee Chair Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, doesn't have a lot of interest in additional training requirements for police. Cornish, a former law enforcement officer, said there's already plenty of training.

"When it comes right down to it, all the training you have, it's still the officer's call at the scene," he said. "You can't have somebody right behind you telling you what to do. It's pretty much up to them and what they're facing at the time."

Someone in a news article has already made a comment that luckily this was an off-duty trained peace officer, otherwise, , who knows what might have happened This is a false narrative. Many many people that have a permit to carry are good shots and practice regularly with their firearm. Because of budget constraints and other things, police officers get very little actual training in the use of their firearm and it stays in the holster for 99% of the year. Gunners I know shoot regularly and are responsible citizens in an event like this. There are numerous circumstances where regular citizens have stopped criminal actions and Mayhem it did not break loose like former representative Kim Norton stated.

As is often the case with Cornish, he must have been mighty satisfied with what he was saying.

Bluestem supports citizens' carry rights, but we stopped short while reading Cornish's assessment of officer training on the use of their firearms, especially after Cornish told citizens in a Strib op-ed earlier this summer that if we don't want to get shot by officers, members the general public simply need to behave ourselves.

Now we learn that rather than getting plenty of training, the officers "get very little actual training in the use of their firearm." For the sake of everyone involved, let's hope state and local governments can work together to solve this conundrum in the years to come.

Photo: State Representative and Minnesota House Public Safety Chair Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, in a "meh" moment.

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Aug 22, 2016

Driving down I-35 near United Hospital and Children's Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota state representative Eric Lucero, R-Dayton, engaged in a distracted driving moment in order to snap a cellphone photo of a banner draped over an overpass.

Paul Hadley MillerThe race pimps and their media accomplices have created a narrative, and to those who've swallowed it, facts don't matter. Once King Race Pimp Barack Hussein Obama gave his blessing to the narrative, it was set in stone.

Lisa Johnson BraegelmanMy interpretationYou? Caucasians. Most likely cops. Us? African Americans Who? someone who is very angryAccomplished? it gave an angry person a voice. While I may not agree with the message or personally identify with the messenger's anger and fear, I do understand the drive and need for change.

Paul Hadley MillerI once met a fella from South Africa who immigrated to the United States and became a citizen. He was as Caucasian as can be, and he was quite literally an "African-American". But when he pointed it out, he was disparaged.

The term as it is used is meaningless. Either you're an American, or you're not.

Eric LuceroJanuary this year we visited Israel for the second time. Our tour guide was an ethnic Jew / racial Caucasian born and raised in South Africa who later moved to Israel. He was a white, Jewish, African, Israeli. Fascinating guy!

My Hispanic ethnicity and my wife’s East Indian ethnicity, my connection with young people, and my experience with the business community will all help outreach initiatives to grow the Republican Party through articulating the values of Individual Liberty, Free Market Capitalism, and Limited Government.

Screengrab: Eric Lucero asks what the banner means.

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The piece equates the freedom to marry the person one loves with the ability to marry a German Shepherd, the notion that immigration reform would take Social Security away from those who paid into it, and other non sequiturs that would be comic, save for the fact that they're presented as "accurate."

Among Republican friends, Bennett shares what she thinks of her Democratic constituents (transcript of audio below as Bennett reads the list, while providing her own side commentary; Bluestem has placed the latter in bold). Her remarks begin with the reading of the list, so we're not sure how she introduced this loving (but definitely not-Letterman) portrait of the loyal opposition:

I vote Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I can even marry my German Shepherd.

Number 9 I vote Democrat because I believe oil companies profits are 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon 15% is not.

Number 8, I vote Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending money I earned than I would. Let me tell you, I heard that over and over again when I was sitting on the floor last year. You're not spending enough, we have a surplus, they would spend it all over time

Number 7, I vote Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

Number 6, I vote Democrat because I'm way to irresponsible to own a gun and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves, I'm also thankful that I have a 9-1-1 service that gets the police to your home in order to identify your body after a home invasion.

Number 5, I vote Democrat because I'm not concerned about billions of babies being aborted, so long as we can keep Death Row inmates alive and comfy.

Number 4, I vote Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free healthcare, education, and social security benefits and we should take away social security benefits from those who paid into it.

Number 3, I vote Democrat because businesses should not be allowed make profits for themselves, they need to break even and give the rest to away to the government for redistribution as the Democratic Party sees fit.

Number 2, I vote Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to re-write the constitution every few days to see the fringe groups who would never get their agenda's past the voters. And last but not least,

Number 1, I vote Democrat because I think it's better to take pay billions of dollars in oil to people who hate us, but not drill our own oil because it might upset some endangered beetle, gopher, or fish here in America. We don't care about beetles, gophers, or fish in the oil countries, just as long as they're in America. So there ya go, the top ten reasons to Vote Democrat.

Here's the audio:

Perhaps Kurt Daudt can let Bennett know that Minnesota doesn't have a Death Row--or perhaps one shouldn't sweat the details when choosing to let hyper-partisanship all hang out.

Is it wise to mock Democrats in Minnesota House District 27A?

Revealing her sarcastically nasty partisan side might not be the wisest move for the retired elementary teacher and freshman state lawmaker, since the swing district includes a lot of Democratic voters. In 2014, US Senator Al Franken received 54.06 percent of the vote; Congressman Tim Walz earned 59.47 percent; Governor Dayton and Lt. Gov. Smith received a plurality of 49.84 percent, and so on.

On the other hand voters selected three Republican-endorsed candidates, including state Supreme Court Justice candidate Michelle MacDonald, Secretary of State wannabe Dan Severson and Bennett. Her first term incumbent opponent, Shannon Savick, stumbled badly in the race.

The district swung more heavily Democratic in the 2012 presidential year, election results reveal. President Barack Obama captured 55.37 percent of the vote, while United States Senator Amy Klobuchar and Walz crushed with 68.32 percent and 63.80 percent respectively. State senator Dan Sparks--on the ballot again this year--nabbed 67.00 percent of the vote, while Savick received 47.70 percent of the vote in the three-way race to defeat one-term incumbent Rich Murray.

The district has historically been a swing district, and in 2014 more than $377,000 in independent expenditures were reported for [and against] Bennett and DFLer Shannon Savick of Wells in the 10 months leading up to the election.

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The videos never explicitly say "Vote for" Barb, Dave or Jim (or Roz, Randy and Chad), so these online ads aren't considered independent expenditures spent to get Dave, Jim, Roz and Chad re-elected or sweep Barb and Randy into office.

Right-o!

"Issue advocacy": "Join Dave Baker" so doesn't imply you should vote for him!

BATC’s Housing First Network recently launched the next phase of its issue advocacy campaign, Think Local. Following up on our issue advocacy campaign to thank housing champion leaders, Think Local promotes local prioritization of homes, which we know create and tie communities together. Much of the news and public conversation looks at national and international issues. While these are very important, the HF Network is asking the public to think about the benefits a strong housing market provides for our local communities.

The local leaders featured in the Think Local campaign are local elected officials and candidates for elected office that have demonstrated support for strong communities and a strong housing market. Election years are times for public discussion and consideration of priorities. As an issue advocacy campaign, Think Local encourages everyone to consider the local impacts of housing, and to support keeping homes affordable for Minnesota families.

How local is the copy in these digital ads? So far, we've found two boilerplates, one that's 30 seconds, and the second that's 15 seconds or so:

Representative [Name] is a leader who thinks local. In the [Town Name] area, our community is made up of families, schools, and businesses all tied together by our homes and neighborhoods. Like the many growing families in our neighborhoods, [Name] raised [his/her] family in our community. [He/She] knows that the best way to build the american [sic] dream is by creating better communities to live in. Join [Name] in thinking local, learn more at HousingFirstNetwork.org.

You just can't think any more local than that. They're not place-baiting, we can say that for them.

Nonpartisan spending like you've never seen it before!

Update August 19: the Builders Association of the Twin Cities has announced its endorsements in a blog post, BATC’s Housing First PAC Endorses Legislative Candidates on August 19, three days after this post was first published on August 16. Three of the endorsees are suburban DFLers: 7th term Brooklyn Park Mike Nelson, first-term Edina senator Melisa Franzen, and Lakeville DFL senate candidate Matt Little, running in the open seat created by the retirement of state senator Dave Thompson. We'll look to see if any Local Think shows up online for the DFLers. A search of Youtube didn't yield any BATC/Housing First videos for these candidates. [end update]

Though not a partisan entity, Housing First prioritized flipping the House to a pro-housing majority as its top objective for the 2014 election cycle, a goal proudly achieved. Housing First vetted candidates and spent countless hours over the past six months managing a campaign that would propel pro-housing and pro-business candidates into office. We now plan to work carefully with these candidates and friends who were elected to build a pro-housing caucus at the Capitol.

What's fascinating here is the contrast between the five flipped districts where Housing First spent money in 2014 and the seven districts where Housing First Republican candidates failed in a GOP year.

In the 2014 CFB report, there's also the thrilling local spend on video and ad place at Larry John Wright Advertising in Mesa, AZ, though it warmed our cold prairie hearts to see Weber Johnson getting its fair share of the fund's bucks. It's good to keep some of these dollars in the state.

If you've seen one Housing First Video, you've seen them all

Here are two Think Local videos for your enjoyment. The b-roll images change, along with the names of the Republicans and the towns, but one has to admire the metro builders' ability to stay on message:

We can only hope that the pleasant looking couple figures out which Minnesota House District they can vote in November's general election. They can "join" Dave or Barb, but not both.

Photos: screengrabs from Barb and Dave's videos.

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Aug 08, 2016

On Monday, Minnesota House Public Safety committee chair Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center, via urged voters in House District 31B to vote for incumbent Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, in light of the latter's staunch Second Amendment record and endorsement by gun rights groups:

Republican State Representative Tom Hackbarth northeastern Anoka County, needs the help of every "Pro Second Amendment" voter in his district. He is endorsed by the NRA with an A+ rating! He also has the support of the Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance with an A+ rating. Tom's opponent received a "B" rating from the NRA! Call your friends and have them vote this coming Tuesday for Representative Tom Hackbarth. Tom has a 100% Pro Second Amendment, Pro-Gun, voting record!

A comment on Cornish's Facebook page defending Bahr's lower scoring by the NRA--which has since been hidden or deleted from the wall--asserted that Bahr opposed the NRA position on individuals living in public housing being able to possess firearms, since those who can't pay their own way shouldn't be trusted with guns. Bluestem finds this notion about restricting a constitutional right concerning. Would Bahr also restrict rights to free speech, assembly, voting or religion based on receipt of public assistance?

It's totally not ironic that Cal Bahr, Hackbarth's opponent, is considered the more conservative candidate of the two Republicans, and has received the financial support of the Freedom Club State PAC and socially conservative GOP power couple Bob and Joan Cummins. Bahr also received a post-filing $4000 infusion of cash from the Senate District 31 RPM (July 22 24-hour-notice) from the Senate District 31 Republican Party, which closed the pre-primary reporting period with $2,993.12 cash on hand. It will be curious to see where the extra money came from that allowed the senate district district to cut that check, but we'll have to wait, because political party committees don't have to file 24-hour-reports on large contributions near a primary.

After more than two decades in St. Paul, GOP Rep. Tom Hackbarth lost his party’s endorsement back in April to East Bethel businessman Cal Bahr. Initially, Hackbarth wasn’t sure whether he wanted to run for his House district again, which includes Anoka, but he ultimately jumped into the primary contest. That miffed some local Republicans, who said Hackbarth initially promised to abide by the endorsement. Local Republicans activist are also likely primary voters, making this a race to watch. Hackbarth will tout his record in St. Paul and hope his name recognition carries him through to a victory.

We haven't seen any reports of polling in the district, so we'll be watching to see whether the local party endorsement beats support from the House Speaker, county commissioner and gun rights god Cornish.

Tuesday afternoon, state Rep. Tom Hackbarth went to the St. Paul Police Department and picked up his gun.

How his silver .38-caliber revolver came into the possession of the cops is a story that Hackbarth himself acknowledges sounds “really weird and odd.”

Last week, St. Paul police pulled the Anoka County Republican over and seized his loaded Smith & Wesson after he told them he was “jealous” about his “girlfriend,” whom he didn’t have any contact information for but suspected was with another man, according to police reports.

Police had been called to the Highland Park neighborhood by a security guard at a Planned Parenthood clinic, where Hackbarth had parked and appeared “suspicious.”

Hackbarth, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, was briefly handcuffed but was released without being charged, and he told the Pioneer Press he did nothing wrong or illegal. . . .

It's become the stuff of off-the-record legend around the capitol--and we can say no more.

Screengrab: Tony Cornish urges voters in House District 31B to vote for incumbent Tom Hackbarth over endorsed challenger Cal Bahr (top); the invite to the fundraiser at Running Aces (bottom)

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Contest Directions: Senator Hillary Clinton officially declared her bid for presidency 2008. Making her announcement Hillary said "I'm in". This is the phrase she rarely heard from Bill in their bedroom. In this contest you are asked to photoshop anything connected to Senator Hillary Clinton running for president of United States. Examples may be photoshopping magazine covers, campaign photos, or future presidency achievements.

The musician first lived in the United States as a student in 1988 and now lives in the Washington DC area, according to the bio on his website.

Additional hilarity? The fact that while Alexander Davis's photo has enjoyed 35,389 shares as we post this, despite the far fewer comments by a handful of members of the Friends Who Like Donald J. Trump group who spar with Davis about how the photo is a fake. He tries to defend posting it by saying it's "a statement" but not without insulting Angie Ortiz, the woman who challenged him:

Alexander DavisYou're an idiot this is a statement okay I suggest you don't look at none of my stuff that I put up so go away go vote for Hillary you Moslem ugly face woman.

But the Clearwater County Republicans aren't only ones having trouble discerning truth from satire. As the screenshot above illustrates, our own state representative, Tim Miller, R-Prinsburg, was outraged by a post from Adam Ford's Christian News satire site, the Babylon Bee.

Several of Representative Miller's Facebook friends helped him out with that one, and the post is no longer visible to the general public. As we are not Facebook friends with the freshman Republican, we cannot say through personal experience whether he has deleted or edited his post.

Screengrabs: Clearwater County Republicans post of photoshopped image (top); the original photo of Clinton and Indian musician Shubhashish Mukherjee (middle); Tim Miller publicly bamboozled by the Babylon Bee (bottom).

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Point of fact: the park isn't a cemetery, but does include memorial paving stones with the names of area veterans on them. The Winona city police officers are to be complimented on their professionalism (maybe it was the hug one received from marchers earlier in the month).

Lost in the focus on the video and Pokeman Go players? The rest of the ordinance. Olson reports in the Daily News that a range of free speech and assembly activities would be restricted:

The ordinance would cover a wide array of activities, not all related to increased traffic from Pokémon players, and some which is already prohibited.

Obvious restrictions would include littering, disorderly conduct or driving through the park off of designated roads.

More closely related to concerns over the recent crowds that suddenly began gathering at all hours earlier this month when the game was released include prohibitions on hammocks and tents, sleeping and sunbathing, recreational activities and games (electronic or not), having pets in the area and playing music.

Some of the broader restrictions would include picketing and demonstrating, speeches or oration to assemblies, and displaying flags or placards.

The exception to many of these rules would be if they were part of a designated military memorial ceremony, or expressly authorized by the city.

The broad restrictions against free speech and assembly without prior permission by the city would likely have dampened the March For Hugs, one of the few non-veterans-related demonstrations of any kind at the park that a superficial online search revealed (rallies and protests in Winona seem to happen mostly in Windom Park or at public buildings like City Hall and the county courthouse).

Eleven-year-old Ezra Frame rode his scooter through Lake Park and down Huff Street Thursday evening with a sign that read “Less Killing More Love.”

“This has to stop,” Frame said.

He and his mom, Amy Ross, were part of a somewhat impromptu six-person Free Hug Peace March Thursday evening down Huff Street — which Frame affectionately named “Hug Street.”

The march was organized by Ross and her friend, Tesla Mitchell, in response to recent violence in the U.S. It’s the type of response, Ross said she believes the world needs.

“We’re sick of seeing all the killings and want to be more positive,” Ross said.

Mitchell admitted she had wanted to organize a peace march for some time, but when Ross approached her about one, she said she felt confident enough in promoting peace, that she believes the U.S. needs to achieve.

“If we can succeed, then the rest of the world can succeed in peace,” Mitchell said.

Though the march was small in numbers, every passerby left with a smile. And the march picked up at the end, concluding with a Winona police officer stopping for a hug — and the group crashing, with hugs, a crowd of people outside playing Pokemon Go. . . .

Hugging police officers without permission from the city council? That should send the country racing toward hell in a flaming handbasket.

Mass shootings. Protests. We've been going through a lot as a nation lately, so in response to all the violence and heartbreak a group of people put on a peaceful march in Winona, a march of hugs. These folks had one mission in mind - to brighten people's days.

This small group, not affiliated with any movement, got together Thursday and decided to try and bring change their way. They say they are tired of all the violence going around and they think that something as simple as a hug can make a world of difference to people.

Plenty of folks were excited to see them and see that there's still some good in the world and that's exactly what the huggers had in mind.

"We all want to feel love, we all want to feel acceptance and that's why our country is where it's at right now is because there isn't that love and acceptance and equality," Tesla Mitchell, one of the huggers, said. "We need to be putting that back into the world and so we have to do that, personally we have to do that, we have to be the change that we want to see."

They walked around the Veterans Memorial Park and down to a nearby Kwik Trip to see people. They even ran into a local law enforcement member who was more than happy to stop by and give them hugs.

That sweetness and cop-hugging might have to stop. However, the comments on Winona Daily News article about the proposal are for now running against the ordinance.

With their permission, hug your favorite veteran and each other, gentle readers, in Winona and wherever you may be.

Photo: Screenshot from KTTC's coverage of the March for Hugs (above); Winona Daily News' hug photograph.

Hat tip: Johanna Rupprecht on Facebook.

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Kern would like to serve in Congress, but substitutes cheap shots for due diligence on her campaign page.

We'll help her out, since she doesn't seem able to help herself.

US State Department Travel Warning

Vacation in Somalia? Not recommended by the United States State Department, which issued this Somalia Travel Warning back in late May:

The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Somalia because of continuous threats by the al-Qaida affiliated terrorist group, al-Shabaab. U.S. citizens should also be aware of the risks of kidnappings in all parts of Somalia, including Somaliland and Puntland. There is no U.S. embassy presence in Somalia. This replaces the Travel Warning dated October 1, 2015.

The security situation in Somalia remains unstable and dangerous. Terrorist operatives and armed groups in Somalia continue to attack Somali authorities, the troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and other non-military targets. Kidnapping, bombings, murder, illegal roadblocks, banditry, and other violent incidents are common throughout Somalia, including Somaliland and Puntland. Al-Shabaab remains intent on conducting attacks against popular restaurants, hotels, locations known to be popular with Westerners, and convoys carrying Somali and other government officials. Last year, there were at least eight prominent hotel attacks located in the heart of Mogadishu, the Somali capital. One U.S. citizen was killed during one of these attacks. Munitions caches and unexploded ordnance exist in various parts of the country and remain a danger to civilians.

In addition, al-Shabaab has demonstrated the capability to carry out attacks in government-controlled territories, with particular emphasis on targeting government facilities, foreign delegations' facilities and movements, and commercial establishments frequented by government officials, foreign nationals, and the Somali diaspora. There is a particular threat to foreigners in places where large crowds gather and Westerners frequent, including airports, government buildings, and shopping areas. Inter-clan and inter-factional fighting can flare up with little or no warning.

There are continuing threats of attacks against airports and civil aviation, especially in Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab continues to conduct attacks against the Mogadishu Aden Adde International Airport (MGQ) using mortars and other standoff weapons. The group also has conducted attacks from within the airport’s secure perimeter and successfully detonated an explosive device concealed in a laptop on an airplane shortly after take-off.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) containing information on the U.S. prohibition against U.S. civil aviation operations in airspace over Somalia due to security risks toward civil aviation. For further background information regarding FAA flight prohibitions and advisories for U.S. civil aviation, U.S. citizens should consult the Federal Aviation Administration’s Prohibitions, Restrictions and Notices.

U.S. citizens are urged to avoid sailing near the coast of Somalia. Merchant vessels, fishing boats, and recreational craft all risk seizure and detention by pirates in the waters off the Horn of Africa, especially in the international waters near Somalia. Pirates and other criminals have specifically targeted and kidnapped foreigners working in Somalia, including two U.S. citizens in the past several years. Consult the Maritime Administration's Horn of Africa Piracy page for information on maritime advisories, self-protection measures, and naval forces in the region.

. . . Looking at the Facebook photos of Omar and Abdirahman together, I thought about the wave of violence eliminating my country’s young brains. I remembered my friend, engineer Abdullahi Barre, who was shot in front of his house in Mogadishu in April 2015. I thought about another school friend, Omar Afrah, who narrowly survived a car bomb. I counted the number of journalists, businessmen, aid workers, teachers and lawmakers who I knew and who had been targeted in attacks over the last few years.

The violence that dominates Somalia is as physical and emotional as it is gruesome and ghastly. Those who have the will and the way are either hiding behind barriers or leaving the country. However, through an unyielding veneer of persistence, people in Mogadishu wake up and go to work every morning. They defy the violence and try to have normal lives – until they don’t. . . .

Bluestem can't discern whether Kern is ignorant, cruel, or sadistically stupid. One thing the post clearly demonstrates--with its indifference to the brutal facts of the Somali Diaspora and current situation--is that she's not congressional.

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Here’s what Erickson had to say about Lewis, Miller and Howe: “I am not handpicked by the Washington establishment. I am not a failed disc jockey snake oil salesman who swindled people through his failed Galt.io. I am not a career politician looking to enhance my resume.”

Twin Cities talk-show host Jason Lewis made a sudden exit from radio Thursday night, quitting in the middle of his syndicated show, heard locally on Clear Channel's KTLK (1130 AM).

Reached Friday morning, the conservative commentator said he decided to end "The Jason Lewis Show" to devote his full attention to his fledgling libertarian website, Galt.io. but also to put his money where his mouth is on taxation and highly regulated businesses.

"There's a tipping point for everyone and for the economy as well," he said. "I'm going to try to make certain [Minnesota Gov.] Mark Dayton gets as little of my money as possible going forward. My ending may have been a bit dramatic, but it's a suitable one, because it's happening all over. If people who take capital risks keep getting demonized, they will stop playing the game."

Lewis said he told Clear Channel that he planned to retire Aug. 1, but wanted to keep it quiet because "a month of farewell shows makes for very boring radio. But I also wanted to make a statement."

Lewis made a 15-minute video that the site calls a "parody of what it is like working in a highly regulated industry and some of the events that led to his decision" to end his show.

Named for John Galt, the protagonist of libertarian hero Ayn Rand's 1957 novel "Atlas Shrugged," will be a "marketplace for causes," said Lewis, who plans to contribute commentary as well. "We want to reward activism, but have fun as well, offering rewards for points."

The site's members are part of a virtual economy that uses "Galtcoins," earned through dividends, voting and updates, to invest in such causes as supporting the Keystone XL pipeline or contributing to a political candidate's campaign.

The site was launched after an independent crowdfunding campaign last November that raised nearly $800,000, largely on the strength of on-air promotions by Lewis, whose show was carried by more than 50 stations nationwide. According to the site's co-founder and president, tech start-up consultant Alex Huff, most contributions were in the $25 range, with fewer than 10 topping $1,000.

The 7,000-member site had been invitation-only, Lewis said, but the goal is to expand membership and increase capital.

"We'll be vetting everyone; we don't want [prominent liberal donor] George Soros as a member," he said. "No doubt those sorts will get in, but members will police the site." . . .

The member-only site remains online, though it's unclear whether it's actively used by members.

All of the Republican candidates for Congress in Minnesota’s 2nd District struggled to raise money the past few months.

John Howe, Jason Lewis and Darlene Miller are fighting for the Republican nomination in the Aug. 9 primary. But their campaign finance reports released Friday suggested the primary battle might be a low-spending affair: None raised more than $200,000 in the past three months, and all of them combined fall far short of the $450,000 raised by Democratic nominee Angie Craig over the same period. Craig also personally contributed another $200,000. . .

Perhaps the strangest fundraising report came from a little-known candidate, Matt Erickson. Erickson reported raising and spending about $54,000 — but almost none of that money appears to be real. Instead, all that fundraising was in the form of “in-kind” donations, each ostensibly worth $2,700, for purposes of “land usage,” “physical labor” and even “spiritual advice.” Setting all that aside, Erickson reported having negative $208.83 in the bank at the end of the quarter.

There's that.

Photos: Jason Lewis (top); Clown car, because the GOP primary is one (bottom).

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Update: The post is set to "Friends" and a reader posted this remark in our comment section:

Umm, Mr. Miller's post is not deleted. It's still there. Those commenting on it are pointing out the same thing Mr. Miller was attempting to point out ... the author of that article was either a complete pansy or just making things up. If a 11 year old girl can shoot an AR-15 with ease and precision I'm pretty sure something is smelling fishy and you maybe better do your homework better before you promote such an obviously fabricated piece of journalism.

We stand corrected about Representative Miller's intent--but not the tone deafness of the lawmaker's timing on the post. Or that of his explainer who remarks "the author of that article was either a complete pansy or just making things up."

We apologize for claiming that Miller deleted the comment and we were a bit tone deaf on Miller's tone. We'll certainly be skeptical of this friend's tips in the future [end update].

Miller supplied the headnote:

I love this. Temporary PTSD, fired like a bazooka (do they even exist anymore), sounds like a cannon, bruised his shoulder? Man, I would love to get my hands on his AR-15. The ones I've fired aren't nearly as intense as his! Jealous!

One day after 49 people were killed in the Orlando shooting, I traveled to Philadelphia to better understand the firepower of military-style assault weapons and, hopefully, explain their appeal to gun lovers.

But mostly, I was just terrified.

Many gun shops turned down our request to fire and discuss the AR-15, a style of semi-automatic rifle popular with mass killers such as San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook and similar to the Sig Sauer MCX rifle [link added] used by Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen. . . .

Perhaps Miller will explain himself by saying his comments were about the gun itself and not the content of the article or the context in which it was written. [see note above]

Whatever.

As a constituent of Representative Miller, we're used to him being a bit tone deaf about the sentiments of people whom he perceives as different from himself. Witness the exchange on Pioneer Public Television's Your Legislators between Minnesota marriage equality senate author Scott Dibble and Miller about the latter man's anti-transgender student bill that we wrote up in VIDEO: Scott Dibble schools Tim Miller about MSHSL transgender policy, MN anti-bullying law.

But failing to honor the nation's grief over mostly gay and Latino victim's at a popular LGBTQ nightclub is the act of someone who is at best a clod. At worst? Supply your own expletive.

Miller also campaigned against former state representative Andrew Falk's marriage equality vote--and has expressed doubts about the notion of equality in general. Nonetheless, one would expect a bit of restraining in jonesing for joking about firepower while the airwaves are still filled with the sobs of survivors and family members of victims of the early Sunday morning massacre in Orlando.

Bluestem Prairie is conducting its summer fundraising drive. If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button below:

Considering all the evidence, and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Mr. Klayman, we hold that a reasonable jury could not find the existence of actual malice on the part of the defendants by clear and convincing evidence.

The district court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants. As a result, Mr. Klayman’ s claim that the district court erred in denying his motion to per fect a prayer for punitive damages is rendered moot.

IV For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’ s grant of summary judgment on all counts, the denial of Mr. Klayman ’s motion to disqualify, and the denial of his motion to perfect a prayer for punitive damages.

Conservative lawyer and Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman sued local artist and former blogger Ken Avidor, former City Pages Blotter shepherd Aaron Rupar, City Pages and the et als for defamation in 2013. As the Pioneer Press first reported in Florida-based lawyer sues City Pages for defamation:

A Florida lawyer has hit City Pages with a $1.4 million defamation lawsuit for a story last fall that said the lawyer inappropriately touched his children.

Larry Klayman's lawsuit, announced Monday, March 25, said City Pages sought to hurt the attorney in retaliation for Klayman's representation of Bradlee Dean, the controversial anti-gay preacher and founder of an Annandale-based group You Can Run But You Cannot Hide.

The City Pages story, which ran Sept. 28 last year, said an appeals court in Ohio had ordered Klayman to pay his ex-wife $325,000 in attorney's fees, and that the order noted a lower court magistrate had heard evidence of sexual abuse from his children's pediatrician, who reported it to children's services, and from a social worker at that agency.

The story said the social worker's findings were changed to "unsubstantiated," but the magistrate found that Klayman acted in a "grossly inappropriate manner" with one of his children, although his conduct may not have been sexual....

May 18, 2016

While Life Site News and the Minnesota Child Protection League have the fantods about the "political correctness" of Minnesota's advertising industry, perhaps they should be worrying about just being correct with their own twitter social media campaing.

Bluestem dropped in to see what was up with the plan to have a truck wrapped with a fear-mongering, anti-transgender graphic visit every Target store in Minnesota when we captured the exchange above. We didn't recall the Steele County Target being a "SuperTarget" branded with the signage on the store above.

"Hannah West," an account that might have been created simply for this single tweet, was on to something. We contacted the Owatonna store and learned that indeed, it's just a regular Target and there's no "Super Target" signage on the building's exterior.

A simple slip-up? Logo fluidity? Media incompetence? All of the above?

The Child Protection League, a group that opposes LGBTQ rights, rented a truck with LifeSiteNews, a propaganda website for ultra-traditionalist Catholic theology, after Minnesota billboard companies refused to sell the duo an anti-transgender billboard for their Flush Target campaign.

Claire Chretien, national spokeswoman for LifeSiteNews’ #FlushTarget campaign, told the news outlet she works for — LifeSiteNews — that Minnesota ad agencies declined to do business with the two groups. “We had to resort to using a billboard truck to get our message out after every billboard company in Minnesota turned down our advertisement,” Chretien added. “It would seem ‘political correctness’ has now trumped ‘free speech’ even in the advertising industry.”

The Flush Target campaign takes aim at Target’s recent announcement that it does not discriminate against transgender and gender non-conforming customers and employees. The MNCPL and LifeSiteNews appears to be attempting to capitalize off of the American Family Association’s boycott of Target.

The religious right duo have also enlisted the help of veteran culture warrior Andy Parrish. A former staffer for former Rep. Michele Bachmann, he also served as campaign manager for the unsuccessful attempt to ban marriage equality in Minnesota. Parrish ran press for the Flush Target truck unveiling at the Minnesota Capitol on Monday.

Is it any wonder why the Minnesota House Republicans have taken up bills with language allowing blaze pink to be worn by deer hunters (something for the ladies) and bathroom bans? Let us recommend a good road map/GPS and less gender identity panic.

Screengrab: Flush Target not at the Owatonna Target.

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